


The Study Group

by celestaeil



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: F/M, Jeno is confused, Jisung is baby, M/M, chenle is Loud, donghyuck is a reluctant mom, jaemin is sassy as heck, mark is the only one who will pass the class lol, renjun is a superior being, they try to learn english
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24080596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestaeil/pseuds/celestaeil
Summary: In an attempt to wingman his best friend, Donghyuck starts a study group for English 101, and soon all seven of them hate each other slightly less, and love each other a little more.NCT Dream OT7 + Lucas | Inspired by the show Community.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 15
Kudos: 46





	1. The Pilot

Lee Donghyuck parked his scooter in front of Neo Technology Community College, the place where he would waste the next four years of his life (until he would inevitably waste the best part of the remainder of his life behind a desk in an under-paying job). He could already smell his next nervous breakdown.

He unclipped his helmet, shaking out his ginger-brown hair and peered over his sunglasses. A blonde girl tugged on her friend's arm as they walked past him, and Donghyuck smirked. He adjusted his  _ First Day of College Shirt™,  _ glancing around as a motorbike pulled up in the space next to him. His shirt was an important one, which was why it was trademarked in his mind, and was a dark blue button-down with thin white stripes. He knew it looked good.

"Hey, nice shirt," said the rider, raising his visor to reveal a pair of brown eyes that curved into crescent moons.

"I just felt like it, Jeno," Donghyuck replied with a shrug.

"Nah, you chose it months ago," the dark-haired boy said, pulling off his helmet.

The brown-haired guy gave him a sarcastic look. His expression turned sour when he saw that Jeno’s motorbike was getting more attention from the girls around the campus.

“Fuck off.”

Jeno just grinned and attached his helmet to his bike. Then he looped his arm through Donghyuck’s and they started walking towards the main building.

“So, I met this guy this morning,” Jeno began.

“Oh, great, let’s just have a fucking flashback and a voiceover,” Donghyuck said dryly.

“Anyway,” Jeno continued, as he pictured the events of less than an hour ago, “I was in our favourite coffee shop-”

“That I can no longer afford.”

“And the cutest guy walked in… blond hair, white hoodie, dreamy eyes…”

“Get to the point,” Donghyuck said shortly.

Jeno narrowed his eyes at him. “Talking. So it turns out he goes here!”

“I always told you to aim a little higher than yourself, Jeno,” Donghyuck reminded him.

“Fuck off, Hyuck. This guy is way smarter than me, trust me. He wants to major in Linguistics.”

“Fancy languages, so what?”

“You have to help me get with him, duh!” Jeno said, stopping them in the middle of a corridor. “I hereby christen you Wingman.”

“I’ve already been christened,” he told him, shaking his arm out of Jeno’s grip. “But, done. Show me the man.”

Jeno’s face suddenly lost its colour. “There he is,” he whispered.

A blond guy was walking down the corridor towards the lockers. He was wearing a white hoodie like Jeno had described, and was definitely cute. He had a backpack and carried a binder, a bunch of other students crowding around him, and one kid was carrying his coffee.

“He is way out of your league, mate,” Donghyuck hissed. He turned to see Jeno making a face at him. “Okay, fine. Just stop doing the  _ Dying Puppy _ ™ face.”

“I told you, it’s the ‘puppy dog eyes’ thing.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Shut the fuck up. I’m going in,” Donghyuck told him. He adjusted the  _ First Day of College Shirt™,  _ ran a hand through his hair, and walked over to the lockers where Jeno’s crush was now standing. “Oh, hey, there,” he said to the blond guy as he took out his keys from his pocket.

“Hi,” the shorter replied. “I’ll catch you guys later,” he added to his friends, taking his coffee from the dark-haired kid who had been carrying it for him. “Thanks, Chenle.”

“See you later, Jun-ge!”

“Locker buddies, I guess,” said the blond, smiling as he opened his locker. He took a sip off his coffee before adding, “Huang Renjun.”

“Lee Donghyuck, nice to meet you,” he replied, opening the adjacent locker. Donghyuck was glad that it was empty - he didn’t need any moldy leftovers from last year’s owner. His gaze found the textbook in Renjun’s arms and suddenly he had an idea (an amazing idea, if anyone cared to ask). “Ah, English 101?”

Renjun winced. “Yeah, but my English is even worse than my Korean.”

“Your Korean’s not bad,” Donghyuck said, unloading a couple of books into his own locker. He took out a photograph and taped it to the inside of the locker door.

“Only because I’m using words I know,” he laughed. “I don’t suppose you’re any good at English?”

“Well, I’m actually starting a study group,” Donghyuck told him, shouldering his satchel. He'd cast his line.

“For English, really?” Renjun started to sound curious, and Donghyuck started to feel smug. He was about to catch a fish.

"Really," he confirmed, and shot a grin at Jeno, who looked confused. "Meet me and my friend at the library at morning break."

Renjun looked over and Jeno gave an awkward wave. Then he tried to lean casually in his leather jacket, but he put his arm out of the open window. In an attempt to regain his balance, he grabbed a handful of pink hair.

"I'll think about it," the blond told Donghyuck.

_ Shit, Jeno,  _ Donghyuck thought, ready to scold his friend as soon as Renjun had left.  _ I'm losing my fucking fish! _

"Alright, bring a friend in our class if you want," Donghyuck said, forcing a smile.

"Cool, see you around," Renjun replied, closing his own locker and shouldering his backpack.

Jeno was too busy arguing with whoever was on the other side of that window to notice Renjun heading past him down the corridor.

"What the fuck, man?" the owner of the pink hair exclaimed, dropping his cigarette.

"I'm really sorry!" Jeno uttered, prying his fingers from the soft pastel hair. He leaned out of the window, catching sight of a guy his age.

"Yeah, these are expensive," the pink-haired guy grumbled, fumbling on the ground. He looked up and glared at Jeno.

"I'll pay you back," Jeno offered, but the guy shook his head and stood up.

He was wearing a white denim jacket, blue jeans and dark grey boots. He wore a collection of silver earrings, clutched a dirty cigarette between two ring-laden fingers, and looked deeply offended.

"That's just not going to cut it,  _ friend,"  _ he told him, reaching inside the building and grabbed Jeno by the collar. "What can you do for me?"

"Uh, um! Do you take English 101?"

"Yeah, why?" His eyes narrowed.

"My friend is starting a study group," Jeno said, his voice getting quite high. "Maybe we can help you out?"

"Does your 'friend' speak English well?" he questioned.

"Not him, but- we, uh, have another friend who's an English genius!"

"Okay," the pink-haired guy said slowly. He let go of Jeno's collar.

"Library, morning break," Jeno said, pointing at him. "See you there!"

Jeno quickly ducked back inside and ran to Donghyuck.

"We have a new member," Jeno told him.

"You what now?"

"This guy threatened me," he whined, clinging to Donghyuck's arm.

"I leave you alone for five minutes…"

The two parted ways: Donghyuck to Biology 101 and Jeno to Korean History. Donghyuck was busy formulating ways to improve Jeno’s chances with Renjun, whilst Jeno was desperately wondering how he could get himself out of the problem he had landed himself in. That pink-haired guy - the  _ scary  _ one - thought they had an English genius in their study group.

“Hey, do you know anyone who speaks good English?”

“Know anyone in English 101 who’s, like, a genius at it already?”

“Do you know any English speakers?”

Every answer was “no”, “no”, “no”, and Jeno was starting to lose hope as he went to his second period class, Korean Literature.

“Hey, are you the guy who’s been asking about English 101?” a girl asked as she passed the desk he had slumped in front of.

“Yeah, that’s me, but I’m properly screwed,” he sighed.

“I’m pretty decent at it, but I don’t take that class.”

“Thanks, anyway-”

“But my cousin does,” she continued, “And he’s basically fluent.”

“Really?” Jeno uttered, sitting up straighter, “But then… why does he like the class?”

“Easy credits?” she suggested. “Anyway, shall I let him know about your study group?”

“Yes, please, that would be amazing,” Jeno said, feeling like he might actually cry.

“Cool, his name’s Mark Lee, you can text him your number from my phone if you want,” the girl offered with a grin. “The things people do to pass college, huh?”

“I would normally do that but I’m in a bit of a situation,” he began, but she laughed.

“It’s fine, dude,” she said, handing him her cell phone. “I’m Somi, by the way.”

“Thank you so much, Somi, you are actually a lifesaver.”

****  
  


_ An hour later… _

Donghyuck was sitting at his newly claimed table in the library, sitting across from a guy he had never seen before in his life.

It was the pink-haired man who had supposedly threatened Jeno, and Donghyuck was looking at him with narrowed eyes and heavy scepticism. The pink-haired man was staring back at him with an equally suspicious gaze, having only asked if he’d got the right place for the English study group, to which Donghyuck had nodded. The two sat in silence.

“Ah, Hyuck, there you… are,” said Jeno, pausing in the aisle between bookshelves before hurrying to his friend’s side and pulling out the chair beside him.

“Where’s your English genius?” the pink-haired guy asked.

“Your what now?” Donghyuck questioned.

“It’s a long story,” Jeno exasperated, pretty much praying at this point that Mark Lee would show up.

“Hey, guys,” said Renjun, smiling as he walked up, followed by his black-haired friend (the Coffee Carrier, Donghyuck noted).

“Hi,” Jeno said, blushing.

“Jaemin,” the Chinese boy added.

“Renjun,” the pink-haired guy replied in his gravelly voice.

“You two know each other?” Donghyuck asked as Renjun sat at the end of the table, between Jeno and Jaemin who were sat on each side. The smaller black-haired kid sat on Jaemin’s other side, glancing at him apprehensively.

“We were at school together,” said Renjun, straightening his pile of books on the table in front of him.

“That’s a stretch,” Jaemin remarked. “We  _ happened _ to be at school at the same time.”

“Hey, now, that’s-”

“It’s not like you ever spoke to me before,” Jaemin interrupted, sounding heated.

“Well, you barely spoke to anyone as it is,” Renjun countered. “What have you been up to these past two years anyway?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“O- _ kay,” _ Donghyuck said, eyes widening slightly. What kind of mess was this? It certainly wasn’t his.

“Hi, is this the English study group?” asked a voice, and a baby-faced guy was standing beside the table, tall and lanky, all arms and legs and hands. He clutched a binder to his chest, a red backpack on his back, and he looked a bit nervous as the other five turned to look at him.

“Yeah, this is, but-” Donghyuck began.

“Cool! Awesome,” said the kid, sitting down next to Chenle. “I’m Park Jisung.”

“Welcome,” Donghyuck drawled. “How did you hear about this?” he gave Jeno a side-long glance and Jeno looked guiltily in the other direction.

“I heard Jeno talking about it in Biology 101.”

“I suppose our whole class might end up joining,” Donghyuck said sarcastically, “Since this guy can’t keep his mouth shut.”

“Oh,” Jisung said, going red in the face, “Is this a private group? Is it invite only? I can leave-”

“Don’t be stupid,” the brown-haired guy sighed, softened by the younger guy’s innocent manner, “Of course you can join.”

“Nice to meet you, Jisung,” Renjun said, shooting him a smile.

“I’m Zhong Chenle!” Renjun’s black-haired assistant said excitedly. “Are you a freshman, too?”

“I think we’re all freshman, actually,” said Donghyuck.

“But aren’t you older than us?” Jisung asked.

“The baby is only eighteen,” Donghyuck cooed. “I’ve been working, and so has Jeno. Saving up, you know?”

Jeno started to say something but coughed when Donghyuck elbowed him in the ribs. “Totally what we were both doing.”

“I was doing charity work in Africa,” Renjun said.

“He was probably on holiday,” Jaemin said under his breath.

“And what were you doing?” Renjun asked pointedly.

Jaemin glanced around the table. “I was in rehab.”

“He was in what?” Chenle questioned.

“Rehabilitation,” said Donghyuck. “You know, for drugs?”

Chenle’s eyes went wide. “Sorry! I didn’t know that word yet. What is it exactly-?”

Jisung grabbed his arm and started explaining quietly.

There was an awkward silence.

“Well,” Jeno began.

“It’s not a big deal, okay?” Jaemin said, throwing them all a look (giving Renjun the dirtiest of all). “Just leave it and move on.”

“Oh, I get it now,” Chenle said, a little too loudly after Jisung had finished explaining. “I moved here a year ago to learn Korean before starting college here.”

“Seems like it wasn’t long enough,” Donghyuck said sagely.

“Are we waiting for anyone else?” Renjun asked.

“Yes, actually-” Jeno began, but he was interrupted yet again.

“Hi, um, is this the English study group?”

They all looked up to see a dark-haired guy who was wearing a dark blue shirt and black slacks, and gave out extremely sensible vibes. He adjusted a pair of round glasses on his nose.

“Yes, and you are?” Donghyuck said shortly.

“Mark Lee,” he answered. “I’m here to help you guys with English.”

“Hallelujah,” Jeno whispered.


	2. English 101, Assemble!

“So…” Chenle said, breaking the silence.

“So,” Mark said, laughing awkwardly. “Can I sit down?”

“By all means,” Donghyuck told him, starting to sound a little sour.

“So you guys needed help with English?” he said, pushing his round glasses up his nose as he sat down next to Donghyuck.

“Yeah, we started a study group,” Jeno said brightly, still looking rather apprehensive of Jaemin.

“Well, our first class is next period, so we could look over the basics first,” the dark-haired guy suggested. He opened his textbook.

“We should get to know each other first!” Chenle piped up. “We’ve only got, like, fifteen minutes until class.”

“We have twenty-two,” Jaemin said, checking his phone. The device disappeared as quickly as it had appeared from his jacket, but Donghyuck caught a glimpse of silver glitter.

“I can tell time,” Chenle said pointedly. “Anyway, why don’t we go round and introduce ourselves?”

The pink-haired man sighed. He couldn’t decide if the small black-haired Chinese boy’s accent was cute or annoying. But he needed the language credits, so he might as well please the kid.

“I’m Na Jaemin,” he said, making everyone look at him. “Freshman, twenty years old.”

“Is that it?” Chenle asked.

“What else do you want me to say?” he questioned, turning to look at the younger boy.

“N-nothing!” he stammered, Jaemin’s expression making him think twice about sitting next to him. “That’s fine! Next?”

“Huang Renjun,” the blond said, smiling. “I’m also twenty, I’ve been building wells and teaching Math in Africa, so I’m a freshman now. I’ll probably be majoring in Linguistics, but I haven’t set my major yet.”

“Okay, I’m, uh, Jeno,” he said, after a pause. “I’m twenty-one, freshman, undeclared, I've been saving up for college… yeah, that's it. Oh, I'm pretty good at soccer."

"Huang here was on the team in high school," Jaemin remarked dryly. "I'm sure you can bond over that."

Jeno blushed a bit, but Renjun rolled his eyes.

"Right, well," the honey-haired boy sighed, "I'm Lee Donghyuck."

Everyone waited.

He made a face. "So you want me to say some more? I'm twenty-one, a freshman, and there's nothing interesting about me."

"Actually, he-"

"Shut up, Jeno," he growled. "Next."

"Okay, I'm Lee Mark," said the bespectacled guy, "Twenty-two, majoring in Law. I'm taking English 'cause I grew up in Canada."

"You must be fluent!" Chenle piped up.

"That's if he still knows grammar," Donghyuck muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" said Mark, looking at him expectantly.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"Um, is it my turn?" Jisung said nervously.

"Yeah, go ahead," said Renjun. 

"O-okay, so I'm Park Jisung," he told them. "I'm seventeen and a freshman."

"Why are you in college?" Jeno asked.

"I skipped a grade in school," said the youngest, looking almost embarrassed about it.

"That's so cool!" Chenle uttered.

"I'm majoring in Engineering. Probably."

"Math genius," Jeno joked.

"Um, I'm bad at writing, though," Jisung sighed. "So, I was hoping that joining this study group would help."

"Of course," Chenle said, beaming. "Cool! I'm Zhang Chenle, I'm nineteen and I don't know what I'm majoring in yet… but my minor is Astronomy! Stars are so cool, right? Anyway, I'm from China and I came to Korea a year ago to learn Korean, but it's still pretty bad, ha-ha…"

"It's pretty shit," Jaemin said under his breath, the verb and grammar mistakes littered through Chenle's speech giving him a headache. Renjun shot him a glare, but Chenle went on, appearing not to have heard him.

"But this should be fun, right? Renjun told me about it. Let's learn English good together!"

"No one says it like that…" Jeno trailed off.

"Huh?" said Chenle. Jisung leaned over and explained the difference between 'well' and 'good'. After a minute of Chenle's confusion, the black-haired boy grinned. "I get it now - let's learn English well together!"

“We should get to class,” said Renjun, getting up and gathering his textbook and binders.

“English 101, assemble!”

“Can someone tell the kid to shut up already?” Jaemin grumbled.

“Wait, like the Avengers?” said Jeno, ignoring the pink-haired guy. “Who would we all be?”

“Let’s just go,” Renjun pressed, looking at his friend. “Come on, Chenle.”

The black-haired guy was busy talking animatedly with Jisung and seemed not to have heard. Renjun huffed and went on ahead.

“Uptight bitch,” Jaemin muttered.

“We can totally pass this class now, hey, Hyuck?” Jeno said, looping his arm around Donghyuck’s.

“I hope to God we can,” he groaned. “And we’ll have to meet at least twice a week, can you imagine?”

“What about everyday?” Chenle said.

“Fuck no,” Donghyuck grunted.

“At least three times a week,” Mark piped up. “You guys are beginners, right?”

“Yeah, doesn’t mean I can spare that much time-”

“Donghyuck is pretending not to be enthusiastic,” Jeno interrupted. “Hey, Chenle, which Avenger would Mark be?”

“Spiderman, obviously,” said Chenle, as if it was a fact. Jisung hurried to catch up with them as they left the library.

“But Spiderman isn’t in the Avengers,” said Jeno.

“Not in the first movie, no,” he replied, “But he joins later in the comics. Mark is Spiderman.”

“What about the rest of us?”

“That’s harder,” Chenle mused.

“You’re actually taking this seriously?” Donghyuck questioned.

“Duh, it's the Avengers.”

“Here it is,” said Mark, as they reached a classroom.

“I hope the teacher is nice,” Jeno remarked as they entered.

“You mean you hope he makes the test easy,” Donghyuck drawled.

“Same thing,” he replied, as if it was obvious.

“Sit down,” the teacher called, “I’m the only person in here who can stand around in the middle of the room for no reason.” He was a tall man with brown hair that was on the verge of hiding his hooded eyes, wearing a white button-down and black slacks (which was more classy than most of the staff at the college).

“He’s cute,” Renjun whispered to Chenle, tugging on his arm to make him sit beside him.

Jaemin went to sit at the back of the room, and Donghyuck joined him after some thought. Jeno was torn between his best friend and his new crush, but ended up sitting behind Renjun and Jisung slid in next to him. The other students had taken their seats already, so the only empty desk was right at the front, opposite the teacher’s desk.

“Then Mark is lucky?” Chenle said, sounding uncertain. The teacher grinned at Mark as he took his seat.

“Great, let’s start, then,” said the tall man, with such ease that one might think he didn’t actually care about the class in the slightest. “My name is Mr Suh. Welcome to English 101.”

“Dude, can you even speak Korean?” a student called out.

“Alright, don’t need to be fucking rude,” Mr Suh retorted. There was a collection of murmurs from the other students. “I’m from America, and speaking Korean in this class is irrelevant. Speak to me like that again and I’ll have you removed from this class.”

“Yeah, he is kind of hot,” Donghyuck muttered under his breath.

“If you like that sort of thing,” Jaemin remarked.

“So, the benefits of learning English,” Mr Suh began.

Some time later, the students were practicing their basic greetings in pairs. Renjun was already correcting Chenle’s pronunciation and Jaemin and Donghyuck exchanged about two words before losing interest in the task. Jeno managed to pair up with Jisung, the younger noting with relief that he wouldn’t have to talk to a stranger.

“You don’t have a pair?” Mr Suh asked Mark in English.

“Oh, um,” Mark said, glancing around the room, “I guess not. Odd number?”

“Is English your first language?” he uttered, eyes lighting up.

“Yeah, I’m from, um-”

“Wait, don’t tell me,” said Mr Suh. “Canada?”

“Yeah,” Mark said, cracking a smile.

“Score! How come you’re taking English 101?”

“Easy credits,” Mark admitted. “I need more time to study for my other classes.”   
  


“What’s your major?” Mr Suh questioned.

“Um, Law,” said Mark, starting to look embarrassed.

“That sounds fucking hard,” he remarked. “You want to be a lawyer?”

“Prosecutor,” he answered. “I don’t really want to, um, lie for money, you know?”

“Fair enough. Well, good luck with all that,” said Mr Suh, “And I’m expecting you to ace my tests.”

“Sir,” Mark complained.

“Kidding,” he said. “At least the first five, though. Alright, everyone! Pop quiz.”

There was a collective groan, and Mr Suh rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, it’s a fun pop quiz.”

  
  
  


“That was so  _ not  _ a fun pop quiz,” Chenle grumbled as he trudged out of the classroom.

“Agreed,” Jisung remarked.

“Where’s Mark?” Donghyuck wondered aloud as the rest of them piled out into the corridor.

“Talking to Mr Suh,” said Jeno, craning his neck to see back into the room.

“Teacher’s pet,” Jaemin sniffed.

“Maybe,” Renjun said warily.

“Not in a sick way, god,” Jaemin scoffed.

“Fuck,” Donghyuck wheezed, “Renjun isn’t as pure as we thought, huh?”

“Fuck off, Donghyuck,” the Chinese boy snapped. “Come on, Chenle.”

“Wait, when are we meeting next?”

“Wednesday, I guess,” Donghyuck said with a shrug. “That’s what Mark said.”

“What did I say?” asked the older, appearing in the doorway.

“Talking to Mr Suh?” Chenle said teasingly.

“What?” Mark said, though his cheeks started turning pink.

“When are we meeting next?” Jeno said loudly.

“Um, am I in charge?” Mark questioned.

“You’re the oldest,” Jisung piped up.

“Just get in touch,” Renjun said dismissively, grabbing Chenle’s arm and dragging him away.

“Fucking rude,” Jaemin remarked.

“He’s probably just in a hurry,” said Jeno.

“Let’s meet Wednesday morning before class,” Mark suggested.

“So early,” Donghyuck whined.

“You want to pass, right?” the older pointed out.

Donghyuck sighed. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve fucked up my life enough already, so…”

“Wait, Donghyuck,” Mark called after him, but the orange-haired guy had already started walking off.

“He’s fine,” Jeno said, waving a hand. “Bye!”

“Um, see you, hyung,” Jisung said awkwardly, giving a wave before leaving for his next class.

Mark stood there in the corridor for a moment, before shaking his head and turning to go. He pushed his glasses up his nose, pulled his backpack strap back onto his shoulder, and went to his Law class.

“Why am I such a helpful person?” he muttered. Hopefully teaching these guys English wouldn’t be too hard, and maybe Mr Suh would give him extra credit for it. 

Mark was wrong, of course, it would be extremely hard.

“Hyuck, wait up!” Jeno uttered, pushing past people to catch up with his friend. “What’s up?”

Donghyuck shot him a glare but kept walking. “I’m fine,” he said.

“You’re not fine-”

“Shut up, Jeno.”

Jeno looked at him for a second before grabbing his arm. Irritated, Donghyuck shook him off.

“What’s going on, Hyuck?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” he snapped. “We’ve got Korean Lit, come on.”

“Okay…” 

They reached their classroom, entering to find Renjun sitting in the front row.

“Oh, you take this class?” the Chinese boy remarked, disinterested.

“Your slave doesn’t?” Donghyuck drawled, smirking when Renjun looked offended.

“Hey, Chenle isn’t his slave,” Jeno said. “Hey, Renjun.”

Renjun just nodded and took out his books. Jeno quickly slid into the seat behind him and Donghyuck rolled his eyes. He sat down heavily at the desk next to Jeno, resting his chin on his hands. Jeno tore his eyes away from the back of Renjun’s head to give his best friend a sidelong glance.

“Hey,” he whispered.

The teacher, a young woman with bleach-blonde hair, a button-down and distressed jeans, walked into the classroom. She slapped down a huge ring-binder on the desk, turning to scrawl her name on the chalkboard.

“Hey, Hyuck,” Jeno hissed.

“I’m Miss Kim,” she said, crossing her arms and facing the class. “Welcome to Korean Lit. 

“Hyuck, what’s wrong?” the dark-haired guy whispered again. “Come on-”

“You. Shut up,” the teacher said, pointing at him. Jeno flushed red in embarrassment. “Anyone who wants to disrupt my lesson can stand up here and read from the prescribed text. Right, well, I’ll give an overview of what we’re doing this semester…”

Jeno spent most of the lesson staring at the back of Renjun’s head, and Donghyuck was extremely bored. Even the teacher’s cute smile and quirky manner failed to interest him. The dark-haired guy hung back to flirt rather terribly with the Chinese guy, and Donghyuck left the classroom. The rest of his day was just as dull, and he crossed the parking lot towards his moped.

“Oh, hey.”

He looked up to see Mark walking by, a heavy textbook slipping out from under one arm and his phone in the other.

“Hey,” he replied, helmet in hand. “You, uh, need a ride?” Donghyuck had no idea where that had come from. His brain was lagging behind his mouth.

“Oh,” said Mark, pausing his one-handed texting in surprise. “I’m good, thanks. My car is parked over there.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Donghyuck muttered. He glanced over to see a battered red pickup truck parked next to the metal fence. That vehicle didn’t match Mark, like, at all. He was a studious, sensible guy, not a fucking  _ farmer _ . “That’s a truck,” he stated.

Mark blushed. “Car, truck, same thing, really,” he remarked. “Anyway, I have to get to work. See you Wednesday.”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck said dryly.

“Bright and early,” Mark reminded him. “We have lots of studying to do.”

Mark may have said this now, but it wouldn’t be long before studying was the least of their priorities.


End file.
